I started Driving Entertainer Buses in 1986 in a Eagle Model 01 with no power steering and a manual transmission, No driver radio and no air ride seat,just the factory low back pedestal mounted seat!!! But I was in Heaven, I remember just like it was yesterday when the road manager came to my hotel room and paid me and gave me my float money[for fuel,bus needs] I had never seen so much money!!! I said all i have to do is drive and you will pay me like this,He said yes and I was in heaven!! After he left my room i spread the money out on the bed and rolled in it LOL for a 23 year old country boy from tennessee that was a lot of money, I told him I sure would like to keep doing this,He said sure as long as the tour last!!!I found out a leading country group of the time was looking for a bus driver,I found out who the road manager was and followed him in to the public rest room at the urinal next to him I stood and said I hear you are looking for a bus driver, He said yes, I said I was one,He gave me his card to call him next week when he got home. I called him and he asked who I had been driving for and I told him,He said he would call me later, So i left the house for the day not thinking nothing of it,when I returned home later that night there was a message on my answering machine that said you have the job if you want it come and get the bus we leave on wednesday night,this was monday night!! So i got up tuesday and went to there office to get the bus and fill out some paper work and while I was there I asked how much does this job pay [should of asked that early on] They said $500.00 per week salary. Wow I had just took a $400.00 per week pay cut,But I was going to get to drive a cherry model 10 eagle with a automatic transmission,power steering,am/fm/cassette radio,hi back leather drivers seat with arm rest on air ride with a liberty conversion on the interior!!!! WOW it was nice!!! I learned a lot on that gig,how to take care of a bus,how to be a mechanic,how to deal with people and how to drive long distances overnight,as we would drive 800 to a 1000 miles over night,night after night!!!! I worked there for a while, then my brother had an motor vehicle accident,I was in Salt Lake City , Utah when it happened,The group flew me home.. Things were bad for my brother,he got messed up bad in the accident,his brain was swelling from the accident,they induced him into a coma to slow the swelling down. He died a few days latter at 24 years old with 3 small children. It messed me up to for a while, I quit my job as i wasnt ready to go back on the road. I was at an auction several months later and they had an old entertainer bus that was going to be auctioned off, I started talking to a gentleman there he said he was a bus owner/driver and he asked me for my contact info because he needed drivers from time to time,So I gave it to him not thinking anything of it, A few months later I came in and was told I had a mesage to call this gentleman, He said he had a family bluegrass / country band that needed a driver,would I be interested I said sure I didnt have anything else going on and would like to get back on the road!!! I called there management company and was told about pay and what I had to do and how they wanted my paperwork and everything to get payed and were the bus was and we were leaving thursday night!! So I was back,this time in a Eagle model 5 that had 10 caps,no power steering,manual transmission and a funky seat on a pedestal!!!! I asked if we could get a new seat and was told yes and anything else the bus needed to let management know, So I told them the carpet was pretty nasty and we needed some tires,I was told to put it in the shop and get it all done. They hadnt had anybody to look after the bus for some time and it needed some TLC as they owned it!!! We got it standing tall again and worked there for about a year and a half. On a trip to georgia we were coming home and the personel manager came up front to talk to me,He said our dates were about up and that they appreciated everything I had done for them and hated to lose me but there would not be enough work coming in for me to make a living but he was going to make a call and get me a job if I wanted it,I said sure!!! He told me to go to Nitetrain Coach that they would be expecting me,I goofed off for about a week and then finally went there,the owner came out and said were have you been,I have been looking for you!!! I have a tour that leaves in the morning if you want it,I said sure,show me the bus!!! Now I was back to an Eagle 05,Manual transmission,No power steering,No driver radio,No air ride seat, A dog of a Bus,It stunk Literally!!!!! But I drove it happily!!! I stayed at night train for 10 years slowly moving up in busses, To a model 10, A model 10 Raised roof, A model 15, A model 15 stretched to 45', A true Eagle 45' Factory coach, a 40' Prevost[what a difference over all the Eagles],A factory 45' Prevost, With all of these coaches at one time or another I pulled a 16' Trailer. While at Nitetrain I would average 300 days a year on the road,A lot of gone time but boy was I making money!!!! Then in 1998 I went to work for a country /pop singer driving his bus that lasted 3 years until his career kinda dried up and we had no more dates!! That is a little of my life in the Entertainer Bus Business, I have been to all the lower 48 states,All the provinces of Canada,Nova Scotia,Newfoundland. I will write more later!!!! Robert Big Dog Adams

In 2003 I came off the road full time,Just doing short trips and double drives to stay active. I done this until 2009 then went to work in a office of a bus company booking tours. We had 43 coaches to juggle around and keep busy,I done that until 2012 then the company changed hands and I didnt want to work for the new owners so i quit. I have been off for a little over a year,and am in the process of having a quad slide star bus built for the 2014 tour schedule. This will be a coach with 2 to 6 bunks in the middle,A rear stateroom with a King Size bed. Me and the wife are going back on the road as a team for the upper scale clientale in the Music Business. The kids are grown with kids of there own so it is time for her to hit the road.

I am working with a converter that has built entertainer coaches for 40 years,so they know all the ins and outs of the business. We are just going to add a few personel touches that I have found to be useful over the years and we should have a perfect for us Entertainer Star Lease Coach.This time will be different having the wife with me full time,But she can help drive,help keep the coach clean and stay with it during the day while I sleep to cater to the needs of the customer or handle any coach related problems that may arise. It has been a long,eventful life living on the road in the music business for 27 years. A lot has changed in front of my eyes,especially with the coaches,the stuff I started out on people now days wouldnt ride 10' on much less go on tour in. They all want the newest,biggest,shinest out there. They ask for things not knowing the first thing about what they are asking for,it is just that someone told them thats what they needed!!!!!!!!LOL. So I am going to build the most modern up to date,technologically advanced coach I can with todays availability. A quad Slide with tracking satelitte,onboard WiFi, 11 Flat Screen Digital Tv's, imported materials for the floors,walls,couches,headliner. A virtual Palace on Wheels,the day it is finished it will be the very best that is available at that time. That is not saying that tommorrow somebody will not build one better,but for that day I will be the King!!!! LOL I am also going to have a trailer built to match the coach in case any body wants to bring along any toys!!! It has been a long,eventful life the last 27 years doing over a 100,000 miles per year,spending 300 or more days on the road and juggling a marriage and children. Would I do it all again??? you bet because it is all I know,when I was 13 years old I got to see inside of an eagle tour bus and I said to myself that is what I am going to do someday,So I worked my way around and with GODS help I was able to acccomplish my goal and provide a living well above anything I could get local,raise 3 children,allow there mother to stay home and raise them without having to work. BUT this will be my last dance,I am 50 this year and plan on working till I am 65 or 70 So this coach and maybe 1 more will get me to my end. It has been an awesome ride,seen a lot of things,been a lot of places and enjoyed my job,What more could you ask for out of life??

Big Dog,Wondering if by chance you worked for the Charlie Daniels group in the mid 90's or is that group below your level of operation ?Reason I ask, late one night we were on the way hiome from visiting the USS Alabama Battle Ship in Mobile, coming thru Knoxville, we were running with one of the fancy entertainer types east on I-40, until we had enough of being passed going down hill, (Must have been a down hill bus) so we left, speeded ahead out of sight. Was running the MC7 with the 12V-71, later we heard Charlie bought a new bus as the junker with radiator hanging out the back with Va tags made him feel bad.Why I ask if you were involved in that event ?

No Sir,I never worked for Charlie Personally. But I would like to hear the story as I have always noticed in your profile the fact that you ran a bus with a 12V in it,It must have been a Hoss to say the least.Was it a triple digit coach? I had 1 Eagle that would do triple digits when empty of course!!! but it would do the speed limit consistantly,up a hill or down a hill,up a mountain or down a mountain!!! it would roll on thru the night!!! Tell me more Please!!!!